


Keep You Grounded

by hollycharlotte



Category: BBC Radio 1 RPF, One Direction (Band)
Genre: Domestic Bliss, Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-08
Updated: 2015-10-08
Packaged: 2018-04-25 10:35:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,130
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4956991
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hollycharlotte/pseuds/hollycharlotte
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>One Direction is over and Louis is trying to figure out where he should be. Nick knows exactly where he wants him. </p>
<p>A bit of ridiculous fluff because getting down on one knee is far too mainstream for Nick.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Keep You Grounded

**Author's Note:**

> I should have been writing notes on curriculum but instead this happened. This is cheesy as hell, please don't gag at how gross it is. Don't hate me for my shitty use of the comma. :) xx

It’d been a month. A month since One Direction’s final tour date for at least two years, a month since Louis’ seemingly never ending schedule actually ended. A month since he’d said goodbye to the most hectic, exhausting and incredible last half a decade of his life. Over a fifth of his life had been dominated by One Direction and an unprecedented level of hysteria but now it was silent. 

It wasn’t over, they had a hell of a reunion tour planned with ideas been group texted far too often for a band that had just gone on hiatus but they knew it would be different. 

Liam, if he had his way, would have a small army of children to consider by then. Louis wasn’t supposed to know that he and Soph had started donating to adoption agencies and meeting with people to learn all about it, both close to home adoptions and international. That small army wasn’t as far away as some would think.

Harry had already been secretly writing for anyone and everyone for the past year and would no doubt have many lucrative offers to keep him away from touring three quarters of the year like they used to. Chris Martin seemed quite keen to keep Harry in his home studio for as long as he could keep him. Lou’d already commissioned one of their lyrics to be painted for Nick’s birthday by his favourite typographer (he was so painfully hipster that he knew enough of them to have a favourite). 

And Niall would probably have a fiancé by then in Millie if things kept going the way they were going. They’d been dancing around each other so long that there was no point in taking their relationship slow and after a month of being official together, Niall’s apartment was mostly going to waste. He’d always been the most private and hesitant with his relationships in the past so Louis was enjoying watching him finally fall fully for someone. 

Louis wanted this, he knew that. He didn’t confront some manipulative people and outright tell them to go fuck their contracts for nothing. It was just taking some time to adjust. Louis was no longer part of a brand to be marketed, he was whoever he wanted to be now and that was terrifying for him. 

He’d spent the first week with his siblings, doing the school run and nicking the remote before it got the point where the novelty wore off and he felt like he was a washed up pop star on his mums couch. He could fight over the remote enough with Nick back home anyway. For once though, saying see you soon was actually taken literally. He’d be home with Nick for Fizzy’s winter ball in a few weeks, the first of many events that he’d be there for. After all, Nick’s connections had gotten Alexa Chung to help Fizzy find a vintage ball gown, dragging Louis through obscure attics of fashion people who didn’t mind sparing a forgotten dress if Alexa asked. Pretty sure his mum had wanted to adopt Nick when she saw the dress they’d found.

The past three weeks he’d been a bit lost though. His mates were all in the real world of 9-5 grind and he didn’t want to have the chance to be at home only to bugger off to another country out of boredom. Nick helped though, making sure Louis was kept busy making up for lost time playing the boyfriend part. He’d been to more dinner parties and lunches in three weeks with Nick than he’d gone to in the first year they’d been a couple he was convinced. He’d gone to work with him as well but the fans had sussed him out, which spoilt the fun of messing with Nick in everyway possible. The press were having a field day saying that Louis was regretting this newfound freedom.

He and the boys had to let go of each other for a bit, their dependency was getting pretty difficult considering only two of them actually lived in London now. Liam had gladly followed Soph to New York for her internship and Harry had last minute gone down to Sydney to Chris Martin’s home on the beach to write. Apparently it didn’t even have road access and he’d been working with some of the best Australian singer songwriters to bring something new to the British music scene. 

He and Niall still caught up at least once a week, Niall showing off his newly acquired cooking skills and teasing Louis about when he was going to ask Nick about kids. Nick had become besotted with his niece Frankie ever since she was born at the start of the year but little did Niall know that a “someday, yeah?” had been whispered into Louis’s ear the last time they babysat. Louis wanted to see all of the places that he’d been confined to arenas and hotels in for the past few years before that happened though. Might not be the Contiki tour he’d imagined in his teens but he’d make up for missed opportunities he was sure. He had to do something with this freedom.

Freedom was starting to feel an awful lot like boredom now though to the point where Louis was considering getting a puppy for he and Pig to play with. Nick had nixed that idea for now, not quite willing to let the new monochrome Marimekko rug that Daisy had given them be rolled up to be protected from puppy piddle. Louis would be happy to see the rug go but as was the way when it came to furnishing their house. 

Nick had found it a little over a year into their relationship, deemed it too soon for them to buy a house together but had let his pals know about the house if any of them were in the market because he didn’t want it to go to waste. Harry had let it slip to Louis though, even Nick’s fear that mention of a house would have Lou running so Louis had bought it for when the time was right. Louis loved a grand gesture and this one was probably a bit absurd but worth it when four months later turned out to be the right time. They’d been trying to shift Louis’s stuff into Nick’s flat and struggling with just the clothes alone, let alone deciding whose furniture would be kept (Nick’s) and whose TV was better (Louis’s). They were a couple that loved to argue but moving in was turning out to be harder than the months apart from each other. 

Lou had roped Liam into helping him set it up, he was the hopeless romantic of the group and had outdone himself for that night. The surprise of the house was all done under the ruse of a date that Louis had set up for them to celebrate Nick’s new job hosting Sweat The Small Stuff. The destination was a secret, Nick blindfolded for the drive there so he couldn’t figure out where they were going. This wasn’t the kind of the thing they normally did, preferring take away and Bake Off on the couch rather than a big date night. But Louis knew Nick was a bit of a sap and liked to be romanced every now and again. 

The blindfold hadn’t come off until he was in their new front garden, tea light lanterns lining the pathway inside where Liam had just left silently with a wave. Nick actually cried at the sight of the house. Proper tears rolling down his cheeks as he hugged Louis tight, promptly telling him he was a little shit for letting Nick be miserable over missing out on this place for months. Inside the tea lights continued and there was a picnic rug with lots of throw cushions, four pizzas, wine and Kardashian’s playing on the laptop. Nick took photos to show their mums because he was the one in their relationship who thought of things like that. The fights over decorating didn’t end but they were much more fun with the sneaky photo Liam had taken from his car when Nick had taken his blindfold off on the mantle. 

Louis was grateful he’d won the couch war though because that’s where he’d spent most of his time since break had started. Nick had gotten the vintage red colour he wanted but Louis had gotten to choose the comfiest one the sleep on. That couch had made for many great naps, the only issue in that being that they’d had many a tipsy friend fall asleep mid party on it because it was just that comfortable. Pig was a fan as well.. Not that Louis had informed Nick of that development.

The weather in London the past week had taken a turn for the miserable so he and Nick had taken to basically living on the couch in front of the fire whenever they got the chance. Winter was officially here with a vengeance and Nick socially hibernated a bit when the weather got like this so they’d been marathoning whatever they could find on Netflix when Nick wasn’t at work, although that mostly ended up with Nick mucking about on social media. It’d been three weeks of this though and Louis was starting to get stir crazy to the point where the weather wasn’t holding him back. He was itching to do something, anything, to get out of this house but also away from paps.

“Niiiiiick let’s do something.” Louis whined into Nick’s neck as they spooned on the couch. He was getting fidgety, tapping his feet against Nick’s and itching to do something.

“What do you want to do love?” Nick replied, still not stopping scrolling through twitter though.

“I don’t know. Something I’ve never done before” Louis retorted, pulling the phone out of Nicks hand and letting it drop onto the rug. That had been the first thing they’d fought about properly, Nick got into a proper strop about Louis taking his phone out of his hand and Louis, never one to shy away from confrontation, had yelled back that he was addicted to it. Make up sex had turned out to be even more fun that fighting though so it didn’t last long. 

“I.. Uh might have an idea…” Nick said quietly as he rolled over the face Louis, wrapping his leg around to keep him from falling off the edge of the couch. He had his lip between his teeth and his brows were furrowed as if this idea was something that could backfire. Louis figured it was going to be something supremely hipster hence why Nick seemed hesitant. 

“Well spit it out Grimshaw, I’m up to the point where watching paint dry would be more fun than staying on this couch any longer.” Louis watched Nick curiously, never having seen him look like this before and Louis knew all of Nick’s expressions now. He wouldn’t admit it very often but he quite liked some of the ridiculous faces Nick pulled at different times and his mind was basically a dictionary of them at this point. Nick was an open book after being together for three years but this was a new entry.

“Well I think you should marry me.” Nick rushed out, watching Louis’s eyes widen in horror or surprise, he wasn’t sure. His hands were clammy and shaking as they patted the ring in his pocket. He’d had it in there for a while; knowing Louis would probably find it in the house if he hid it there. It’d been setting off the metal detectors at the BBC for weeks to the point where the security guards were badgering him to get a move on with it. 

“You think so do you?” Nick was slightly settled with the smile on Lou’s face but he still hadn’t gotten a yes. He’d had a speech and everything for this moment but hadn’t realised until thirty seconds ago that he was going to ask now.

“I do because you have turned me into the love sick idiot I used to make jokes about, honestly it’s awful, we disgust me. I’ve never had the same rush in a relationship than the one I get when I’m around you, even if we’re fighting over me still not being able to make your tea right after all these years.” Louis chucked at that, Nick was feeling a little more confident than before as Louis grabbed for his hand. “You’re my second favourite person to come home to, after Pig of course, and honestly even though everything else in your life is a little up in the air right now, I’d quite like the one to help keep you grounded. So yeah I think you should marry me.” 

“Did Harry come up with the air metaphor? It was awful so it seems like him.” Louis laughed, eyes crinkling at the corners as he did. 

“Oh shut up you. What do you say?” Nick was laughing just as much and that seemed like a pretty good tone for this proposal. Their relationship was all about banter and laughter, with a few select insults thrown in to stop each other from getting a big head.

“Of course I’m saying yes you twat.” Louis launched himself at Nick resulting in them both toppling off the couch together. Nick was far too old for his puppy of a boyf-fiance these days, his back was going to hurt for a week after landing on his phone but it’d be a nice reminder of a pretty extraordinary day. Once they fixed their jumbled limbs, Nick’s phone had been retrieved unscathed and Louis was straddling Nick’s hips, Louis went in for the kiss, his hand guiding their faces together. It was far from the best kiss ever, both of them smiling too hard to even take it seriously. They really only got a peck in before they were breaking away in laughter, Louis resting his head on Nick’s as they did.

“You’re in the way of the ring idiot, sit up on your knees for a sec.” Nick tapped Louis’s thigh for him to pull up and away so he could fish it out of his skinny jeans. He wasn’t sure if they’d shrunk in the wash or his hands were shaking too much to be able to coordinate his fingers into pulling out the ring but it was a bit of a struggle trying to fish it out. 

“Always liked me on my knees didn’t you Grimshaw?” Louis joked, patting an opportunistic Pig who had come to see what the noise was about. She didn’t seem concerned though so just curled up next to them and rolled over for a belly rub.

“Shut up Louis Tomlinson. Ah! Got it!” Louis didn’t wear jewellery so, as much as Nick wanted him in something with a rock, he knew that the rough finish of the black tungsten and the clean lines around the edge would be much more Louis’s taste. Niall had agreed when he’d checked with him that he’d made the right choice. “I don’t mind if it’s sits on your bedside table to be honest, I just didn’t want to ask empty handed.”

“Guess we don’t have to fight about everything then.” Louis’s most preferred piece of jewellery was festival wristbands but this sleek black ring wouldn’t bother him that much. It was a symbol, not a fashion statement, although he’d be hiding it from the paps for a while yet. Nick’s hands were still trembling so Louis took the ring off him and slipped it onto his finger for him. “Did you measure my finger in my sleep?”

“You’ll never know.” Nick replied staring at the ring as it caught the light coming from the TV, the movie (The Italian something or other, Nick was bored before even the opening credits started) long forgotten. 

“Oi, I thought good fiancés didn’t keep any secrets?” Louis quipped as he threaded their fingers together, the catching of Louis’s new ring against the ones Nick always wore a problem he would gladly get used to. 

“Mmm a bit of mystery saves embarrassment.” 

“I’ll take that as a yes. H is going to cry when we tell him you know.” Harry had set them up all those years ago, told them that there fighting was basically foreplay and they should make the most of that. Of course they were both stubborn so it’d taken a while before Louis had snogged Nick, the both of them absolutely bladdered and a mess. They both tasted like the shots Harry had been concocting and were pretty sweaty from too many bodies being packed into one room. Harry liked to take the credit for their relationship regularly.

“He kind of knows I was planning on asking.. So does Niall, Liam, Pix, Daisy and Alexa. Oh and both our mums. I’m terrible at secrets! It’s a miracle I didn’t do something stupid like plan what I was going to say and save it to our iCloud.” Nick blushed in embarrassment but Lou knew this about him, he knew where the line was and only let slip the occasional thing about their relationship on the radio when the anecdote suited the conversation. He’d paid for it when he’d joked about Louis turning his pants inside out when he couldn’t be bothered to do the wash to Hugh Jackman though. In Nick’s defence, Hugh had just told him that he’d had to do the same thing when his family camping trip got evacuated to a town hall due to flood risks. Australian’s didn’t mind a BO joke it seemed but Louis didn’t appreciate being revealed as smelly to one of his favourite actors. “Been practising what I was going to say at the park with Pig as well.”

“Oh Pig, you sneaky little devil. I thought you were on my side huh?” Louis cooed as he scratched a very oblivious Pig.

“Guess she’s ours now. What’s mine is yours ‘n’ all that.” 

“As if she was ever not mine, idiot.” Louis had been bribing her with treats ever since he’d started dating Nick. Not that she was hard to convince, she was pretty welcoming to everyone except Harry, which brought Louis and Nick great joy.

“That’s very true, she’s got good taste.” 

“Yuck, go back to being mean to me please.” Louis replied, having enough sappy stuff for one day. Although he knew the worst was yet to come, his mum would probably sob when they facetimed her later. 

“Forever and always, Tomlinson.”

“Now tell me, what cheesy Instagram post have you got planned to announce this?”


End file.
